Using this e-filing system is, at this time, still voluntary. I look forward to trying it out.

Some paper is still required

Please be aware that the electronic-filing order still requires counsel to send two paper copies of the brief to the clerk’s office.

As things stand, counsel in the Texas Supreme Court have two choices — both of which require some mix between electronic and paper copies:

Use the electronic-filing portal to file and serve a PDF that counts as the official original, plus submit two paper copies to the clerk’s office.

Submit an original paper version plus eleven more paper copies to the clerk’s office, serve them on opposing counsel, and also submit the required PDF by email to the clerk’s office.

So while this new e-filing order isn’t strictly paperless, it is a big step in that direction. As a solo appellate lawyer, I certainly look forward to simplifying my workflow on the days briefs are due.

3 responses so far ↓

I have to confess to being a little underwhelmed by the somewhat tepid embrace of electronic filing by the lower-level appellate courts. The website for the First Court of Appeals–where I filed my first electronically filed document earlier today–notes that parties who choose electronic filing still have to comply with Local Rule 4(h), requiring paper copies of some documents. Rule 4(h) requires paper versions of the original and four copies of any brief, thus reducing the paper workload by precisely one copy. Yay.

So a brief and its accompanying appendices, definitely the most time-consuming and cumbersome of documents I wind up filing, still requires paper copies to the tune of four-fifths of what it required before. That is unlikely to make up for the extra ten bucks or so I spend on electronic filing fees. So pardon me if I don’t pop the cork on the champagne.